


Only Fair

by Wallwalker



Category: Star Ocean: The Second Story
Genre: Community: 5trueloves, Established Relationship, F/F, Fluff, Shopping
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-21
Updated: 2009-11-21
Packaged: 2017-10-03 12:46:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,699
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18233
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Wallwalker/pseuds/Wallwalker
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Rena pushes a bit too hard while she and Precis are shopping for new clothes, and Precis pushes back.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Only Fair

**Author's Note:**

> Written for the [Five True Loves](http://community.livejournal.com/5trueloves) community at LiveJournal. (Prompt: Hypocracy.)

"You know, Precis, you'd look so pretty in something like this," Rena said, holding up a knee-length green dress with a low neck and flowers embroidered around the neckline in gold.

"Uh, no thanks, Rena," Precis replied, laughing. "I'm not one for dresses." She went back to her rack of pants.

"Why not?" Rena asked, shaking her head. "What's wrong with dresses?"

"Well, for one thing, the skirts would get all torn up when I'm working on my machines. For another thing, you can't run around in a dress, 'cuz then they'd just get in the way. And for another thing, well, they're just too pretty to get messed up, and I don't wanna mess up anything that nice."

Rena paused for a while, looking at the dress, then at Precis. "Well... you could just get it for a special occasion, you know. You don't have to wear dresses all the time..."

"Geez, Rena, you really want me to try that dress, don't you?" Precis said, looking up. She wasn't sure if she was more exasperated or amused - probably both in equal quantities. She'd known that this was going to happen, it usually did when Rena asked her to go with her on her shopping trips to Lacour, and she'd gone anyway just to get away from Linga and its more irritating professors for a while, and to spend the day with Rena... she didn't have anyone to blame but herself, really.

"Well... yeah," Rena admitted. "I just want to see how you'd look in a dress. I think it might be nice."

Precis would have usually said no, out of the question, no way. She'd known Rena for a long time now - two years, almost, not counting when they were traveling all over the place together - and they'd been roommates at Linga University for almost a month now. Rena ought to know by now that Precis didn't like dresses. At all. Sure, she was a tomboy, but she liked it that way. And Rena never seemed to take no for an answer, or not very long. If she could just make her see -

Then an idea struck Precis head-on, the way they usually did, and she grinned. "Well, ok," she said, winking at Rena, "I'll try that on... if you try something for me."

"Something for you?" Rena echoed.

"Yeah. I mean, it's only fair, right? Just lemme find it first," she said, and then she turned back to the racks and started flipping through more outfits as quickly as she could. "You're always wearing those skirts, Rena. Don't you want to try something else for a change too?"

"But I... I like my skirts!"

"Come on, Rena," Precis said as she searched, and rolled her eyes. "You want me to try something new, but you won't do it yourself? There's a word for that, you know-"

"Precis!" Rena interrupted quickly, raising her voice.

"Well, there is. And I'm not gonna try on that dress unless you try on whatever I want you to try, okay? And then you've gotta come out here with me and show off." Precis looked up and grinned. "Or we could just forget this whole thing and go have some lunch before we start back for Linga, if you want...."

Rena just looked at her, and Precis could see that she was thinking hard about it - geez, she could be so stubborn when she felt like it, so proud. She was so damn determined to get Precis in that dress - Ha, that's a funny reversal, isn't it? Precis thought, and then pushed it out of her mind before she could start blushing. She half-hoped that Rena wouldn't change her mind and decide that going for some lunch would be a good idea....

"Okay," she finally answered. "I'll do it. Just as long as you try on the dress too, all right?"

"All right! Now, lemme see... um, what size do you wear again?"

"You don't know?"

"I'm not usually paying much attention to that, okay?!"

Rena finally answered after some wheedling, and even after that, it took about fifteen minutes for Precis to pick out her outfit - her criteria was very exacting, and she could tell that Rena was starting to sweat by the time she finished, so that was a bonus. It had to be green too, for one thing... and it had to be very... different. "Okay, Rena, let's go try these on," she said. "No peeking!"

"What? I'm not even allowed to look at it?"

"Why would you wanna do that? I mean, you have to try it on, so it's not like you can change your mind. Here, take this, and don't look at it until you're in the dressing room."

"All right," she said, and grabbed the clothes, holding them out and making what seemed like a huge effort not to look at them.

Precis hummed to herself as she walked to the little dressing cubicles, green dress slung carelessly over her shoulder, and hung the dress up. As she started taking off her jumpsuit, she heard Rena open, then close the curtain for the cubicle next door - and then heard a muffled groan.

She stopped herself from cheering out loud, and contented herself with humming a bit as she changed clothes, even while she puzzled just a tiny bit over how she was supposed to get that stupid zipper back up by herself without getting it stuck....

\---

"Come on, Rena! I'm ready!"

"Precis, I'm not coming out in this!"

"But you promised! And I'm wearing your dress," she added, and that was true - she was, and it wasn't that bad, although she still wouldn't be caught dead in it outside of that store. It would look really nice on Rena, anyway, with the long slit skirt and the pretty bodice... Precis thought that it just looked awkward on her.

"I thought that the dress was pretty! You just picked this out to embarrass me, didn't you?"

"Don't be silly!" Precis chided. "Hey, you wanna know what that word is that describes people who don't do what they say?"

"Precis..."

"It starts with an H-"

"Oh, for the love of Tria... all right, but I'm not going to stay out for very long!"

She pulled the curtain aside and walked out of the cubicle, wearing a ridiculous, pin-striped lime-green suit with a bright pink scarf. Precis smiled encouragingly and grabbed her arm, dragging her into the store.

There were a few customers, and a few clerks, and soon they had all turned and stared at Rena and Precis. Precis heard a few stifled childish giggles, but they were quickly silenced.

"Don't mind us, folks," Precis said, "just trying out a couple of things."

"Is that for a costume party?" a little boy asked, before his mother hushed him.

"Well," Precis said, "it could be, couldn't it?" She made a show of looking at Precis. "All you'd need is a hat and some sunglasses, and you could pretend to be... oh, I don't know. Who do you think you look like, Rena?"

Rena shook her head. "Like someone who should've just agreed to go have lunch when she had the chance," she said, softly enough that only Precis heard her."

"Oh, don't be like that," Precis said. "It's not that bad."

Another little boy looked at her, then started to giggle. "She looks like a striped lime, Mommy," he said very clearly, before his mother blushed and took his hand and pulled her away.

"I think," Rena said more calmly than Precis had expected, "that I'm going to go change now."

She went back to the little room and pulled the curtain shut behind her.

\---

The rest of their visit was quiet. Precis and Rena changed back into their regular clothes, and they browsed around a little bit longer before they left. No one said anything else about it, except for one enterprising clerk who suggested to Rena that she might want to look at another suit like the one she'd just tried on, only in light blue. "It would be a much better color for you," she said, and smiled nervously. "Really, the fit of that suit was just fine for you, it was just the color... well, you'll think about it, I hope."

Rena smiled nervously back. "Yes, thank you," she said. "I'll think about it." Then she turned and made a bee-line to the door.

Precis grinned and leaned in closer to the clerk. "Say, could you hold that blue suit, and I'll come back and get it for her later?"

"Of course," she said. "Just write your name down right here...."

\---

When Precis was done, she walked out of the room to find Rena standing next to the door, smiling ruefully. "Now I know how Claude felt back in Clik," she muttered under her breath, when Precis got close enough.

"Oh, like, when that kid made him try on those pink breeches? Yeah, Celine told me about that once." She grinned and patted Rena on the back. "Don't worry. Your outfit wasn't nearly as silly as that."

"Well, that's something," she said, and sighed. "I think I see your point, though. I won't make you try on dresses that you don't want to try on, okay?"

"Sounds good," Precis said. "I mean, seriously... it would've looked great on you, but me? Dresses just aren't my style, y'know." Then, after a quick glance around to make sure no one important was watching, she took Rena's hand and squeezed it, and kissed her on the cheek. "C'mon," she said. "I'll buy us some lunch, and then some of that cake that you like so much, okay?"

"Well... all right," Rena relented. Then she cracked a smile. "This whole thing was dreadfully silly, wasn't it?"

"Very," Precis agreed, and gave her a kiss on the cheek. "But don't worry. If we come back here and those clerks try to make fun of you, I'll have Bobot punch 'em in the mouth!"

"What? Precis, you shouldn't say things like that!" But Rena laughed anyway, and both of the girls were cheerful again as they left the shopping district side-by-side.


End file.
